


truth be told (i may never really learn)

by rarmaster



Series: (who's gonna) Save the World [10]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Gen, on the topic of fathers and how to be a very bad one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 13:04:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18469537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Riku gives Kratos some unsolicited advice.STW.





	truth be told (i may never really learn)

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes the muses get chatty, and sometimes they launch themselves at each other's throats and you stand there like a horrified mother as your sons fight!!! AND I HAD SUCH POTENTIAL TENDER CONTENT I COULD HAVE DONE BETWEEN YOU TWO??? SMH!!!
> 
> actually it's fine, now that this is Also a part of DYWC, Riku can interact with YWKON's Kratos, who isn't a shitty dad
> 
> just so it's on the table again: this Riku is pulled from FtPverse, which means he's actually Repliku. he goes by Riku for Reasons TM

Kratos sits near the top of Rosalina’s observatory—( _truthfully, it is much like a castle, or a fortress, but she calls it an observatory, and so everyone else does as well_ )—up here the artificial air is thinner, the shield that protects them from the unrelenting pull of space much easier to sense. No surprise, given he sits not far from its generator.

The stars are colder than he is used to. He doesn’t mind so much.

It’s quiet up here, which is why Kratos keeps finding his way back to it. Of course, Rosalina’s observatory is populated currently with a decent handful of rambunctious children who would all more than gladly explore every inch of this place, so it’s no surprise to Kratos when there’s a disturbance in the local mana. He does not move from where he is sitting, legs dangling down into the air below him, hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting on joined knuckles. Likely the visitor will simply be on their way, shortly, only up here to see what is up here, likely not interested in Kratos’ company.

( _It is not any mana signature he has gotten familiar with, either, which means it is none of his… companions, he guesses he’ll call them. It would be hard to miss Soma’s or Shulk’s mana signature, and truthfully, hard to miss Jade’s as well. Snake is the only one who would go unnoticed, rather magically unusual human as he is—but whoever is nearby definitely Has a mana signature, which means it cannot be Snake, either._ )

The presence doesn’t leave, though. Footsteps approach.

“Can I sit?” a voice asks.

Kratos looks up. It takes him a moment to place a name to the face, there being just enough people on this comet for it to be difficult to keep track of all of them. Lanky boy with messy silver hair cropped just below his ears, bangs framing teal eyes. Riku.

“I am not stopping you,” Kratos allows.

Riku laughs, short and kind of sharp. “Guess I wanted to know if it was cool if I could ask you something, too,” he adds as he sits. He moves cautiously, movements all projected, like he’s used to walking around people with short fuses. Kratos would have to be significantly more distracted for his to be tripped, but he appreciates the gesture nonetheless.

“I suppose so,” Kratos says.

“Hmm.” Riku’s hum isn’t quite satisfied, and he sighs. “Alright, well, it’s a kind of weird question, I think, so brace yourself.”

Kratos idly wonders how weird. Probably not any stranger than Soma’s prying questions, or Jade’s boundless curiosity. He’s gotten good at deflecting strange questions, anyway. He makes a noise and sends Riku a brief glance to show he’s prepared for it. Riku takes a deep breath.

“You said you had a son, right?”

Oh.

Kratos hadn’t been expecting that question.

He thinks for a second about lying, but the way Riku phrases the question makes it clear enough he won’t get out of answering. Besides, he hasn’t exactly kept it a huge secret, and his companions have probably mentioned it, or told Riku by now, or…

“Yes,” Kratos says. Nothing more. Actually. “That wasn’t exactly a weird question,” he teases, lightly.

“Oh no, it’s not the weird one,” Riku says, laughing lightly. He speaks with a kind of teenage ease that Kratos barely remembers, but he does remember quips passed quickly between Genis and Lloyd and it has the same kind of rhythm, for a second, before Riku’s thoughts seem to catch up to him and he frowns. Kratos watches from the corner of his eye as Riku gathers his thoughts.

He’s content to wait for Riku to gather them, rather than press.

“I just wanted to…” Riku begins, then hesitates. He picks idly at the cloth of his pants. “Maybe it’s not really my place. But.” He looks up at Kratos, his face set like that of a man who is fairly certain he would regret not speaking up more. “It’s—silly, really. But… your son _does_ know you love him, right?”

For a moment, Kratos can’t breathe. He thinks of the steel of his sword pressed to Lloyd’s neck. Thinks of Lloyd, furious, crying, _how could you betray us HOW COULD YOU_ and as Kratos cuts himself off from everything to try and get the memory under control, silence roars in his ears, deafening, so that he does not hear Riku’s quiet, angry little laugh.

This is not a question he can get out of answering. His prolonged silence has already given Riku an answer.

Maybe he can do some damage control.

Kratos makes himself breathe. Lets his senses all come slowly back online. Whispers.

“He does not even know that I am his father.”

Silence, for a second. Kratos risks a glance at Riku—sure enough, Riku regards him with narrowed eyebrows and silent judgement. A child really has no right to judge him, though. Riku does not know him. Does not know Lloyd. Does not how complicated the position Kratos finds himself in.

He owes Riku nothing.

“Do you… intend to tell him?” Riku asks, slowly. At least the judgmental look has become something more akin to a fish is out of water. A boy who’s become distinctly aware that this conversation is more than he wanted to get into.

Good. Kratos can work with that.

In lieu of answering immediately, he gets to his feet.

“Frankly, it is none of your business,” he says shortly.

Riku doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then he laughs, and he laughs. It’s sharp at first, like it’s angry, but then it’s full of more mirth, though the underlying edge doesn’t quite leave it. The laughter surprises Kratos so much that instead of simply walking away as he had intended to, he pauses and turns back to Riku, watches Riku pat his knees and then hop to his feet, his smile too sharp.

“Guess you’re right,” he says. “It really is none of my business. Your life and your decisions are none of my business! You can do whatever the hell you want!” He’s laughing as he says it, though, bitter nonchalance brimming in his smile rather than anything else. It’s clearly fueled by anger, but—Kratos can read the expression well enough ( _recognizing it, bewilderingly enough, from Yuan_ ) to realize that Riku has simply stopped giving a shit about this conversation.

Kratos should be happy.

This is what he wanted, isn’t it?

But.

Dissatisfaction stirs in his stomach. Before Riku can turn and leave, Kratos calls:

“Riku.”

“Hmm?”

“Why… Why does this matter to you?” Kratos asks.

Riku’s smile shows much too many teeth for the words he says next. “Because not knowing whether or not your father _actually_ loves you? Hurts like a bitch.”

He shrugs, like it’s not a big deal, like the words didn’t just knock the air clean out of Kratos’ lungs. Riku shoves his hands into his pockets, smiles like nothing is wrong at all.

“Imagine if your son never got to find out,” Riku continues. He must know how sharp his words are, and maybe that’s why he looks so smug. “ _That’s_ gonna destroy him, more than anything else—that uncertainty. Even if you hate him, even if you don’t think he’s worth your time, you should at _least_ say that to his face. That’s better than having to fill in the gaps yourself, because when you have to fill in the gaps you never really _know,_ not for _certain_ , if what you think you saw was real or you’re just making shit up and that _fucking hurts_.”

Kratos stands, wide-eyed, not moving. Now he feels like he’s the one who’s a fish out of water.

Riku cocks his head to the side and smiles, a smile that sits at odds with how he just laid his own heart out bare.

“Whatever you tell your son, Kratos, it’s none of my business. But you _should_ tell him the truth. Believe me when I say he’ll appreciate it.”

And before Kratos can say a word, Riku turns and leaves.

( _Kratos wonders if maybe he’s right._ )


End file.
